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Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (via blog):
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Bucks guard Charlie Bell is not on the active for Game 7 due to a disciplinary issue, coach Scott Skiles said in his pre-game remarks to reporters.
The Bucks placed injured center Andrew Bogut on the active roster to take Bell’s place, but Bogut is not able to play.
“We’ve got a couple issues with Charlie Bell I’d rather not comment on, so we’re deactivating him,” Skiles said.
The AP reports:
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Hours before receiving his second straight MVP award, LeBron James scored 35 points and Mo Williams added 20 as the Cleveland Cavaliers, outplayed for most of the game, stormed back to beat the Boston Celtics 101-93 on Saturday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
James, playing with a sprained and bruised right elbow, delivered yet another memorable performance as the Cavs withstood a furious punch from the Celtics, who led by 11 in the third and seem intent on making this a long series.
James, who also had seven rebounds and seven assists, drained a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to put Boston away.
Rajon Rondo had 27 points and 12 assists and Kevin Garnett finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who were held to 15 points in the fourth quarter.
InsideHoops.com notes:
The Cavs shot 48.7%, the Celtics 44.4%. Both teams struggled from three-point range. The Cavs hit 21-of-31 free throws, the Celtics 17-of-21. Rebounding was even, and assists were close.
For Cleveland, James scored 35. Mo Williams shot 8-of-14 for 20 points, five rebounds and six assists. Shaquille O’Neal (just 4-of-12) had 11. JJ Hickson (5-of-7) had 11 off the bench.
For Boston, Rondo had 27 points, six rebounds and 12 assists. Kevin Garnett (just 9-of-20, no free throw attempts) had 18 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and three blocks. Ray Allen had 14 but on 14 shots and contributed little else. Paul Pierce was just 5-of-17 for 13 points, three steals but more turnovers than rebounds or assists. Kendrick Perkins had 11 rebounds.
Fan discussion live as this game took place was here.
Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reports (via blog):
The Pacers showed that the roster isn’t the only thing they want to change this offseason when they fired Sam Perkins as their vice president of player relations after two years on Friday.
General manager David Morway didn’t divulge why Perkins was fired, but he thanked him for his services.
The AP reports:
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Carlos Boozer had 22 points and 20 rebounds, rookie Wesley Matthews scored 23 and made a key block, and Utah pulled away late in the fourth quarter and beat the Denver Nuggets 112-104 on Friday night, winning the playoff series in six games.
Deron Williams added 14 points and 10 assists for the Jazz, who went on an 11-0 run after Carmelo Anthony had tied the game at 95-all midway through the final period.
Matthews went 13 for 15 from the free throw line as Utah persevered in the foul-filled game, making 34 of 51 free throws after drawing 39 fouls by the Nuggets.
Chauncey Billups led Denver with 30 points and Anthony finished with 20 points on 6 for 22 shooting…
Joey Graham scored 18 of his 21 points in the second quarter to get the Nuggets back in the game after they fell behind by 15.
Paul Millsap had 21 points, 11 rebounds and blocked three shots for Utah.
The AP reports:
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Pau Gasol tipped in a missed jumper by Kobe Bryant with a half-second left and the Los Angeles Lakers survived a late comeback effort by Oklahoma City and eliminated the Thunder 95-94 in Game 6 of the first-round playoff series on Friday night…
Gasol pumped both fists after the basket, and the Lakers moved on when Russell Westbrook missed a desperation 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 26 points on a dreadful 5-for-23 shooting night. Westbrook had 21 points and nine assists.
Bryant scored 32 points and Gasol had nine points and 18 rebounds, scoring his only basket of the second half at the end…
Bryant almost single-handedly kept Los Angeles out front with 16 points in a dazzling third quarter—until it came to an early end for him when he picked up his fourth foul while guarding Westbrook.
The AP reports:
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Jamal Crawford saw the end to his series-long shooting slump coming, making a promise after the pregame shootaround: It’ll be back tonight.
Crawford then went out and finally played like the NBA’s sixth man of the year in the playoffs, scoring 24 points to help the Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 83-69 on Friday night to force a seventh game in the first-round series…
Carlos Delfino scored 20 for the Bucks, who came into the game hoping to finish off their heavily favored opponent but instead went completely flat coming out of halftime and couldn’t pull off a late rally attempt…
Brandon Jennings scored 12 points on 4-for-15 shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range…
John Salmons finished with eight points on 2-for-13 shooting.
Joe Johnson scored 22 points, and Al Horford had 15 points and 15 rebounds for Atlanta.
Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings, Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors were unanimous selections to the 2009-10 NBA All-Rookie First Team, the NBA announced today.
Rounding out the NBA All-Rookie First Team are New Orleans’ Darren Collison (46 points) and Chicago’s Taj Gibson (41 points).
The NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of New Orleans’ Marcus Thornton (31 points), San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair (30 points), Oklahoma City’s James Harden (22 points), Minnesota’s Jonny Flynn (22 points) and Detroit’s Jonas Jerebko (22 points).
The AP reports:
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Jason Richardson wanted to be the wild card in the playoffs for the Phoenix Suns.
So while the Portland Trail Blazers were focused on Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, Richardson came up big for the third time in the first-round series, scoring 28 points in a 99-90 Game 6 victory Thursday night…
Richardson had 29 points in the Suns’ 119-90 victory in Game 2 before scoring a career playoff-high 42 in a 108-89 win in Game 3…
Martell Webster had 19 points for Portland, which failed to advance out of the first round for the second straight year…
Amar’e Stoudemire finished with 22 points for the Suns, while Nash, who said afterward that he had been battling a hip injury since Game 2, had 10 points.
Brandon Roy had 14 points for the Blazers in his first start of the series.
The AP reports:
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Manu Ginobili scored 26 points and San Antonio survived blowing a 22-point lead to finish off the Mavericks 97-87 in Game 6 on Thursday night, getting payback after Dallas eliminated the Spurs a year ago in the opening round.
The seventh-seeded Spurs will play the sixth-seeded Suns in the Western Conference semifinals starting Monday night in Phoenix…
Dirk Nowitzki nearly carried the Mavs to an unbelievable comeback, getting 25 of his 33 points in a remarkable second half. But George Hill, the hero for the Spurs in Game 4, scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to keep the series from going back to Dallas…
Caron Butler scored 25 points and rookie Rodrigue Beaubois had 16. But aside from them and Nowitzki, no other Dallas player scored more than six points…
Plagued by slow starts in this series, Dallas got off to its worst yet when it mattered most. The Mavs trailed 22-8 after the first quarter, hitting just four of their first 18 shots. By halftime it was 47-34, a franchise playoff low for Dallas.
Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings is the recipient of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.
He deserved it. This is an individual award, not a team award. And as an individual, Evans was pretty much the best first-year player in the league. Stephen Curry came on strong as the season progressed, and Brandon Jennings had more team success than either of them, but as an individual, Evans rocked.
Evans received 67 first-place votes (491 points) from a panel of 123 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Golden State’s Stephen Curry finished second with 391 points and Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings finished third with 204 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
More info and full voting results here. And fan discussion is here.